The Act on the National Council of the Judiciary on the president's desk. Żurek: The rule of law is in his hands

Minister of Justice, Attorney General Waldemar Żurek announced on Friday that since February 4, the amendment to the Act on the National Council of the Judiciary has been submitted to President Karol Nawrocki. It is in his hands whether we will restore the rule of law in Poland, said Żurek.

In January, an amendment to the Act on the National Council of the Judiciary and a related amendment to the Electoral Code were passed. Its main assumption is that the 15 judicial members of the National Council of the Judiciary will be elected by all judges in direct and secret elections organized by the National Electoral Commission – and not, as currently, by the Sejm.

The minister announced at Friday's press conference that the amendment has been with the president since February 4, who has 21 days to decide on it. – Today, we also want to convince the president and representatives of his office that this bill is a really good solution and will eliminate a certain chaos that prevails in the justice system – said Żurek.

He emphasized that from the beginning of the legislative process he had declared his openness to a conversation with the president, but – he added – “there was no specific initiative or invitation” to the Presidential Palace to be able to “talk directly about justice reforms not through the media.”

According to the head of the Ministry of Justice, there will be “certain distortions” in the media stating that the amendment proposes that judges to the National Council of the Judiciary be elected by judges, i.e. “judges will elect themselves.” But – he emphasized – the Council, apart from the judges, includes, among others: six members of parliament and in accordance with the constitution: four members of the National Council of the Judiciary are elected by the Sejm from among its deputies, and two are elected by the Senate from among senators.

The Minister of Justice stated that, in his opinion, the judicial part of the National Council of the Judiciary clearly results from the constitution. – If the Polish constitution says that the parliament elects six representatives of the Sejm and the Senate, then we have a logical conclusion from the opposite; Legal logic (…) says that it will not be the case that the entire National Council of the Judiciary will be elected by representatives of parliament – said Żurek.

He added that the bill, which is already in the hands of the president, “restores compliance with the constitution, i.e. the election of the judicial part of the National Council of the Judiciary by judges.”

The head of the Ministry also indicated that February 11 will be the deadline when, based on current regulations, the Speaker of the Sejm should call elections to the National Council of the Judiciary. In this case, Żurek was also asked whether the government is prepared for the fact that if the president does not sign the amendment to the National Council of the Judiciary, recruitment of judges to the National Council of the Judiciary will have to be launched in accordance with the current law, which will lead to the establishment of a Council that does not meet the independence standards.

The minister replied that it was not certain that the election of a panel of judges to the National Council of the Judiciary – according to the current Act – would mean its unconstitutionality. – There is one model, in Spain, that reconciles all the requirements indicated by the European Court of Human Rights – said Żurek. He emphasized that they were repeated later in the rulings of legal judges of the Supreme Court, i.e. “if the judges choose their candidates and the parliament applies a kind of approval.”

Żurek, however, stipulated that this was an emergency plan. – That is why I appeal to him (the president – ​​PAP) to look into this act and to consider signing it – he added.

Moreover, the head of the Ministry of Justice said that “we heard several times” that the president announced that he would have his own solutions regarding the National Council of the Judiciary. – We have not seen the draft bill from the president's office and no one has invited us to talk about it to try to find some consensus – said Żurek.

The statement of the head of the Ministry of Justice was accompanied by a graphic with the image of the head of the presidential office, Zbigniew Bogucki, and a quote from his statement from November 2025 for “DGP” that the president “wants to establish a Council for the Repair of the State System, whose task will be, among others, to develop a draft law regarding the National Council of the Judiciary, so that it can be presented no later than January next year.”

A day earlier, the head of the Ministry of Justice posted the same graphic on the X platform and turned to Bogucki, writing that “February is passing, and there is still no presidential bill,” and he would be happy to “assess its value.” At the same time, Żurek reminded that there is an amendment regarding the National Council of the Judiciary, which has already been passed by the parliament.

Responding to this entry, the head of the presidential office, addressing Żurek, wrote, among other things: that his “act is actually a plagiarism of solutions prepared by your predecessor, who is no longer here.” “You will also no longer be in the Ministry of Justice sooner than you think, and there will be no bullshit who is trying to exclude hundreds of judges from running for the National Council of the Judiciary and to cement the privileges of those who consider themselves a 'completely extraordinary caste',” Bogucki added.

At Friday's conference, the Minister of Justice said that he did not want to comment on the entries of the head of the KPRP published on social media. – You have to read them yourself (and assess – PAP) whether they correspond to the level of this institution – added Żurek.

He repeated that the president's amendment “is the foundation for healing the situation” and “it is really in the president's hands whether we restore the rule of law in Poland or start this process.”

The amendment to the Act on the National Council of the Judiciary and the related amendment to the Electoral Code were adopted by the Sejm on January 23. According to the main assumptions of the proposed changes, 15 judges – members of the National Council of the Judiciary are to be elected by all judges in direct and secret elections – organized by the National Electoral Commission – and not, as currently, by the Sejm. According to the Ministry of Justice, the idea is to take away politicians' influence on the Council and give it to the judicial community, which is to restore its independence.

The newly formed Council is to include representation of all types and levels of courts. The National Council of the Judiciary is to include representatives of judges from common courts – of appeal, district and district courts, the military court, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court and the provincial administrative court.

The amendment is the second attempt of the currently ruling coalition to reform the National Council of the Judiciary. The first reform – prepared by the previous head of the Ministry of Justice, Adam Bodnar – was adopted in the summer of 2024. The then president, Andrzej Duda, before signing it, referred the amendment to the Constitutional Tribunal, which in November last year. ruled it unconstitutional. (PAP)

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